things to look forward to

I'm staying with my auntie again this summer in Delhi. She has a computer and used to know how to use the internet and things but has forgotten because she so rarely needed to use it. I want to (re)teach her how to use e-mail so we can keep in touch more often and so she can also e-mail and receive photos from her daughter who's moved to Mumbai. I am also going to try to take my auntie to see the Taj Mahal. The Taj is only about an hour and a half drive, bus, or train ride away from her house in New Delhi, where she's lived for the last 20 years, but she has never been to see it. My 71 year old auntie lived in Delhi for most of her childhood and now her widowhood, but has never seen one of the most iconic images of India. My auntie is India. She was 10 in Delhi during Independence! She nearly missed singing the national anthem with her class for Jawaharlal Nehru on the day of Independence but her cousin bicycled her over just in time. I know the Taj isn't as big of a deal to Delhi-wallahs, but it's still all over and so emblematic and I think my auntie should visit. She's traveled a lot, but I also loved the Golden Temple, so if we have a longer weekend maybe we'll get to go to Amritsar, too.

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Other things to look forward to for The Future:

reading for pleasure
nimbu panni
summer movies
bucket baths
berries
songwriting
apartment decorating
fresh midwestern vegetables and fruits
clavicles
changing leaves
foggy, frosty fall days
baking
60s dance parties

summertime scones

Mallory linked me to pretty much The Most Perfect scone recipe over at the Star Tribune a while ago. I've made both blueberry and strawberry so far this summer. And if I weren't leaving for India next Saturday(!) I'd bake a couple dozen more.

My brother graduated and my grandma brought a big pail of strawberries from the patch in her yard when she visited for the party. 1.25 cups for scones barely made a dent in the bucket.

While the recipe is meant to be for strawberry scones, my momma and I both agreed that blueberry was better. They also kept longer. I just put in a cup and a quarter blueberries and cut out the preserves, currants, and (obviously) the strawberries. In fact, I didn't put preserves or currants in my strawberry scones, either. I've been so wound up about the details in the past couple years that I think I've finally caved into a permanent state of tossing-hands-in-the-air. Don't have preserves? Who cares! I should really iron this before sewing it, huh? Oh well! Put in a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon of baking soda? Scooping parts out will be good enough, I'm sure. And it usually is.

By the way: I did manage to add a sprinkling of sugar to the top of my scones. Without the recipe telling me to and everything. I'd recommend it.